I would say 80% of the scripts I get are dramas and not comedies or romantic comedies, which is funny because that's what I do every week.

I'm on the ground, I've been in swing states, I've been talking to the American people, I've been out there speaking on behalf of Obama's record, I've been in the trenches.

I believe that education offers the fastest route to economic mobility. I grew up with a family of strong, accomplished, and educated women. I believe, as they say, that you can't be what you don't see, and since I saw a lot of smart women in my life, education being at the center, I just mimicked that behavior. There was never a question that I'd go to college. In fact, I was the last person in my family to get a master's degree, so that tells you I'm actually the underachiever!

You can't walk two steps without seeing a pregnant teen.

Even though I am very tied to and close to my heritage, I learned Spanish in college; I didn't grow up with it. Growing up in South Texas is different from Miami or L.A. where it is a necessity to speak Spanish.

I won a scholarship to come to LA and compete in a modeling and talent completion and was amazed when I won it. I had never acted before in my life and won the acting category. I began to wonder what this is about and then decided to see what happened.

I grew up as the ugly duckling, they called me 'la prieta fea', which means ugly dark one - that was my nickname.